Talk:Florida State University

Bundy murders?

Why is there absolutely no mention of the young women whom Ted Bundy murdered in the late 70s in a campus sorority house? It's probably one of the most notable events concerning FSU in the 20th century, and its omission seems intentional. Jaydenwithay (talk) 01:29, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for your suggestion. When you believe an article needs improvement, please feel free to change it. We encourage you to be bold in updating pages, because wikis like ours develop faster when everybody edits. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. You can always preview your edits before you publish them or test them out in the sandbox. If you need additional help, check out our getting started page or ask the friendly folks at the Teahouse. ElKevbo (talk) 02:58, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

I oppose listing the Ted Bundy events in Tallahassee on the FSU Wikipedia pages because they are not connected with the university and did not occur on university property. Bundy attacked female students of the university off of university property. As a parallel, does the Harvard University Wikipedia article list the murder of a Harvard student in Cambridge, MA? (the answer is no). Here's an example: https://abcnews.go.com/US/investigators-announce-significant-break-decades-cold-case-murder/story?id=59314962 While Bundy's notorious activities connected five female FSU students to Bundy, such information does not belong on the FSU Wikipedia page. Such detail belongs on Bundy's or Tallahassee's Wikipedia page.

Similarly, we've had discussions between editors regarding the FSU pages on Wikipedia who want to list criminal acts which occurred on university property. There's no consistency between this illegal activity and that one, but we choose the one which aligns with our political outlook. Again, the motivation is to make a political statement, not document the meaningful history of a 171-year-old university.Sirberus (talk) 19:09, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

"Founding"

Every instance of the claim of 1851 as the founding year needs a link to 'Note 1,' not just the sidebar. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.252.156.11 (talk) 19:55, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

Why do you think this necessary? The founding date is over documented on the FSU page mainly due to prior vandalism and constant challenges from University of Florida students and alumni. I've followed this issue for decades and it is frankly a nothingburger to everyone else.

FSU follows a nationally conventional method of setting the founding date. It has history of using 1851 long before the current University of Florida arrived in Gainesville. FSU's claim to 1851 is well documented in the school's early history. In my view the present Note 1 adds little or nothing to the history of FSU. It should be removed. Sirberus (talk) 13:21, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

For reference is the seal of the Florida State College.

Florida State College 1901 Seal

Sirberus (talk) 18:13, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

"oldest ground" of education in Florida

(I moved this over from the wrong talk page) --Melchior2006 (talk) 08:23, 11 December 2023 (UTC) Thank you for your kind attention to the FSU article. I wrote much of it years ago and helped push it through GA review. I don't edit much these days, but I do look at the article from time to time.

Regarding the deletion of the statement about the oldest higher education location in Florida you wrote was too trivial, I urge you to reconsider. The issue of oldest public university in Florida is and has been a political hot spot between FSU and UF. It may be a trivial topic outside of Florida, but has weight in Florida politics. While I could have reverted the changes, you are a serious editor and I urge your further consideration of this deletion once you know more of the history.

Cheers! Sirberus (talk) 03:29, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

Hi Sirberus, thank you for your friendly point. I would be happy to have you re-insert the point about the "oldest ground" of education. In the international context, it is indeed very minor (consider Tibetan schools and their centuries-old tradition!), but please include some reference and mention that it is a point of contention, otherwise the statement looks like really bad boosterism. If you want to continue this conversation (ok by me), then please do so on the FSU talk page, so others can chime in. --Melchior2006 (talk) 04:55, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

I added back the statement and a cite. Agreed the point is generally nonsense, especially in the context of the Old World. Whoever said politics was rational (especially in the rah-rah university domain)? The truth is nuanced and complex, and splits along which university dating convention one wishes to follow. Both follow that which they think advances their position. Cheers! Sirberus (talk) 00:45, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

@Sirberus The cite isn't good enough. It is just pointing back to FSU, not sufficiently NPOV, especially because this is a "fighting" point in polemics among FL universities. -- Melchior2006 (talk) 08:23, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

Perhaps we need to devote some additional resources to this area. You'll note the nonsense associated with the 1851 date - but only on the FSU article. Newspaper reports commonly unearthed are written by UF grads advancing their POV (UF has a journalism school). I'll work on it - your help is appreciated. Sirberus (talk) 12:33, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

After reviewing the article, I note there is already a statement in the lede about the oldest location with two good references. One reference is to the 1902 Florida State College yearbook (The Argo), plainly stating the year of origination (1851), claiming "the oldest State College in Florida" status, and stating (correctly) that the school has operated continuously since November 1856. The second is a St. Petersburg Times story covering the various date changes over the years and salient details of the rivalry. Between the two, I think this addresses the matter. I am fine with leaving out the sentence you deleted since it merely repeats the claim. Reference 3 adds even more clarity to the UF claims. Does this work for you? Sirberus (talk) 18:42, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. Thanks for looking into this. --Melchior2006 (talk) 19:42, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

One last thing on this - I reread Reference #3 and found it addressed the matter so clearly I placed it as another inline citation to the statement we've been discussing. Sirberus (talk) 20:47, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

Shannon Bream should be added to alumni

How has this not happened yet? 2605:59C8:61E0:2910:2827:F044:70BB:E030 (talk) 14:11, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 May 2024

In the second paragraph, change the sentence "Florida State University comprises 16 separate colleges and more than 110 centers, facilities, labs, and institutes that offer more than 360 programs of study, including professional school programs." to say "17 separate colleges" - the supplied link for reference now says 17 as opposed to 16. This is presumably from the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship becoming a college in 2019, Dedman School of Hospitality officially becoming a college in 2021, and then the colleges of Education and Human sciences combining to become the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences last year. Lunsel (talk) 14:23, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Done. Thanks! ElKevbo (talk) 23:46, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 May 2024 (2)

Under the "Student Government" Section, there are a few changes:

1. Change the last line in the first paragraph from "The university's student government currently operates on a yearly $13.79 million budget, one of the largest student government budgets in the United States." to "The university's student government operates on an annual budget based on $12.86 per credit hour taken by students every year, which comes out to about $14 million annually. In 2024, $1,189,132 was allocated toward the Student Government for spending, which shall increase by 4% every year until 2029; the rest goes toward the Division of Student Affairs to put toward the Student Union, Campus Recreation, and Student Engagement." per https://sga.fsu.edu/executive-pdf/A&S-Fee-Allocation-MOU-02.29.24.pdf and https://sga.fsu.edu/financial/sga_financial_manual_22_23.pdf (page 8 lists the $12.86 number). I believe this change more accurately reflects the budgetary procedures of SGA. If nothing else, the link ought to be updated either to the budget for the 23-24 FY or the 24-25 FY.

2. Under the second paragraph outlining the Executive Branch, there are now seven agencies following the addition of the Jewish Student Union in 2021, and four bureaus following the abolition of quite a few (the Center for Participant Education, the Student Council for Accessibility Advocacy, and the Office of Student Sustainability). My new proposed outline (with changes bolded) is "The student government executive branch is led by the student body president and includes the student body vice President, student body treasurer, seven agencies, four bureaus, and an executive cabinet." The change from "executive secretaries within the Executive Office of the President" to "executive cabinet" is to highlight the flexibility in the names of that cabinet from year-to-year for posterity, so we don't have to choose between changing it frequently or it being out of date/inaccurate.

3. The final sentences of the final paragraph, regarding the judicial branch, shall be changed from "The chief justice may appoint a marshal and clerk. The election commission is also composed of Florida State University College of Law students and it adjudicates all student government election complaints. The commission has five members, one of whom also serves as the commission chairman." to "The chief justice may appoint a marshal and clerk. The election commission and the supervisor of elections is composed of Florida State University students and it adjudicates all student government election complaints. The commission has six members, and shall be chaired by the supervisor of elections." per https://sga.fsu.edu/statutes/statutes.pdf (page 108 regards the criteria for SOE, of which being a law student is not one of them, page 111 designates them as the chair of the commission, and pages 111-112 has the Commission selection criteria, which does not require them to be law students).

Thank you! Lunsel (talk) 14:54, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

I'll another editor weigh in on this request. In my opinion, the article has way too much detail about this group and most of it should be removed from the article. ElKevbo (talk) 23:48, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

I will go ahead and reduce this section a litte; it is overloaded with details about statutes and administrative structures .... this is not the place for that sort of thing. -- Melchior2006 (talk) 06:10, 22 May 2024 (UTC)